Response to Food, Inc.

1) My biggest impression after watching Food, Inc. was definitely one of pure disgust, yet pride. I was truly disgusted at how these multi-billion dollar corporations treated their workers, treated their farmers, who they claim to treat well and praise daily. However, I was even more disgusted at our American government see how these corporations falsely inform the public, how they treat their employees, how they toy with illegal immigrants, and yet they do not blink an eye. They keep their mouths shut because of how much money these corporations bring in to the country. Not particularly food issues, but the way that the poultry/meat companies treat their farmers, and the way that they import and export illegal immigrants stood out to me the most. The food conditions, the bacteria outbreaks, the way the chicken and cattle are treated, I already knew about most of that. So it wasn't necessarily shocking. In my junior year of high school, we spent a good two months talking about these same food issues in my AP Language class. The food itself aside, I never really saw how these employees, the suppliers were treated by the supposed "good guys". It mortified me how a company could be so relentless, so brutal, so heartless against the people who supply them with their product. If I ran such a food company, I would make the treatment of my employees one of my top priorities, because essentially, they are the ones who put the product on the shelves. I would make sure to take care of my farmers especially, because they breed and take care of the main source of the product; of the chickens, the cattle, the pigs etc. On the topic of immigration, I never could have imagined that the government would let these corporations get away with importing and exporting them daily. With how how hard the U.S. government cracks down on illegal immigrants, how could they let it happen so regularly and smoothly?! That is what honestly baffled me the most about this film. 

Overall, I really enjoyed this film very much. I felt much pride in these journalists for exposing such horrible conditions, for going after every possible outlet to tell each side of every story in terms of such food issues. I was left with no questions about each topic, that's how I know that it was an overall good film. I actually found it really funny when Michael Polan came on the screen. Because in my junior I read his book, The Omnivore's Dilemma, and I had to write paper after paper on that one book and it's discussed food issues. Polan's introduction into the corn part of the movie was actually lines from his book, which I found amusing yet annoying because I couldn't stand reading over 100 pages about corn. 

2) The food mantra that I personally live by is, "Eat until you're satisfied, not too much, not too little, and drink lots of water." In Michael Pollan's essay, Escape from the Western Diet, he basically pushes eating more organic, healthy foods that processed junk food. Which yes, I agree with, but most Americans cannot afford to live such a lifestyle. Yes, food companies and the government need to rearrange the prices so that healthy foods are less expensive that the unhealthy foods, but that is obviously not going to happen anytime soon. I know that I cannot afford to live like that all day everyday, even thought I try my best to. On the other hand, Mary Maxfield, in her essay, Food as Thought: Resisting the Moralization of Eating, argues that food is neutral, that the ideas of "healthy and unhealthy foods" are programmed into us by society. I agree with Maxfield more than I do with Pollan, society has told us what's right and wrong, and once we accept that, we can freely make our own choices on what to eat without a second thought. 

Eric Schlosser's Argument

            Eric Schlosser's argument is that fast food corporations have changed America in every possible way. Schlosser gives the general overview of his argument in the third paragraph of the excerpt of his book, Fast Food Nation "During a relatively brief period of time, the fast food industry has helped to transform not only the American diet, but also our landscape, economy, workforce, and popular culture. Fast food and its consequences have become inescapable, regardless of whether you eat it twice a dat, try to avoid it, or have never taken a single bite" (Schlosser 3). He describes in the introduction how large fast food industries such as McDonald's have become part of everyday American culture. How they have become a large part of our economy, especially when it comes to providing jobs. How they have even manipulated the government in order to be able to do whatever they pleased. Schlosser uses all main nine methods in his introduction, Narration, Detail, Description, Argument, Process Analysis, Definition, Comparison & Contrast, Cause & Effect, and Classification. Because this is the introduction to a larger book, it needs to describe everything that is going to be discussed in the pages to come, which is why he blends together so many methods, because a book is essentially every method combined into one genre. 

            I particularly like his writing style very much. It was all very cohesive, easy to follow, and interesting at the same time. I learned a lot in 7 1/4 pages, more than I thought I could have. The way he constructed this excerpt definitely makes me want to read the rest of his book. I thought that his argument was very relevant, especially now in this day and age when it's changing so fast. The argument itself was very well put together, even in the introduction. I can't imagine what the rest of the book is like if the introduction was this informing and engaging. 

Comparing & Contrasting

        Bharati Mukherjee's essay "Two Ways to Belong in America," describes the differences and similarities of her and her sister's views on immigrants. Most of the essay consists of the differences, however. The main subjects of the differences are how she defines herself as being an "immigrant nobody," yet she defines her sister as a "expatriate." Both sisters moved from their homeland of India, to the United States in order to work and attend universities. They both stayed in America, continued working and studying, and eventually got married in the states. Bharati's sister, Mira, stayed within their culture and married an Indian man. Bharati, on the other hand, married a Canadian-American. Mira still has her heart and mind in India, as shown by how she has not conformed herself to the ways of America. "My sister is an expatriate, professionally generous and creative, socially courteous and gracious, and that's as far as her Americanization can go. She is here to maintain an identity, not to transform it" (Mukherjee 274) Mira is staying in America to simply keep up her immigrant status. To be able to keep her job. She does not want to become an "American" in the sense that she transforms herself to the cultural norms. Bharati, did the complete of Mira, "In one family, from two sisters alike as peas in a pod, there could not be a wider divergence of immigrant experience. America spoke to me - I married it..." (Mukgerjee 274) Bharati adopted every single one of America's cultural norms, from it's fashions, to it's language, so it's lifestyle. 

In this essay, the purpose of comparing and contrasting the two sisters is to show what Bharati thinks are the only two ways to define being an immigrant.  I disagree with the idea of their being only two ways. These two ways, are the complete extreme opposites of each other. Yes, some immigrants adopt these ways, especially those who are new to the country. However, most immigrants take the middle ground, they adopt and accept American norms, yet inject their own home culture into it. That's what makes American so diverse, the fact that so many immigrants infuse their outside cultures into America. 

Response to "The Ways We Lie"

By far, this is my favorite essay that we have been assigned to read. It was entertaining, sarcastic, easy to follow, and very informative. I one hundred percent agree with how categorizes the lies that humans tell. She categorizes them in quick, efficient ways that anyone could understand. Especially with the anecdotal examples, any reader could understand and relate to the classified, described lie. I think she covered every lie there could possibly be. I even learned new types of lies while reading this. For example, I had no idea that stereotypes were considered lies. I think this essay got published because it was detailed in such a way that it was relatable. That people could pull up the essay, and classify the lies they tell themselves everyday. 

Okay kind of random, but I just need to say how much the little anecdote about the myths of Lilith shocked me. I literally dropped my book and sat with my mouth open for I don’t even know how long. This myth literally made me question every form of the story of Adam & Eve that I have ever heard, every my own faith itself. But it completely makes sense of why women have believed that they are the lesser sex because of the omission of Lilith’s story. Even though every myth about her has posed her as a Mother of Demons, she was the only strong woman in any ancient religion that stood up to a man. If that story had been detailed in the Bible, or the Quran, in any religious book, women would have thought of themselves much, much differently throughout history. 

Why did Robert Connor write "How in the World Do You Get a Skunk Out of a Bottle?"

Robert Connors' essay is titled with the question, "How in the World Do You Get a Skunk Out of a Bottle?" because that was the question that he pondered the whole time during this particular situation. Connor was running on the side of a road when he saw a skunk struggling to get his head out of a glass jar. 

I think Connor wrote such a detailed, analytic essay because he himself could not explain why he turned back and tried so hard to help the skunk. He went against his own strong urge to just run home and not do anything, his own instinct. "I have a sudden desire to turn go, keep running, get home. . . . But now I realize that this skunk is my responsibility." (Connors 8 & 11) He had an overwhelming sense of responsibility over this skunk, because he knew that if someone else like the police found it, they would kill it trying to save it. He was the only one there, so he assumed the responsibility himself. I think the purpose of this essay was to say to readers that it's okay to do things on impulse, things that you know will benefit someone in the moment. Connor literally saved a life here, even thought he could have gotten sprayed or attacked. He could have just kept on running, and forgotten about the slowly dying skunk. It couldn't have earned him anything if he did it. But after the act, he felt a sense of happiness and relief, which he never really connected to the skunk, probably because it was indescribable. It was something that he just felt and couldn't place the source. Which is probably why he wrote this essay now, because he finally placed all of the feelings and actions from that day. 

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As a girl, I generally like to shop, especially shop online. I primarily go on sites like Forever 21, Topshop, Etsy etc. And while I browse the internet for my next online purchase, I like to listen to music, especially to my stations on Pandora Internet Radio. Every time I simultaneously am online shopping while listening to Pandora, specific advertisements pop up on the sides of Pandora,  advertisements that just so happen to be from the exact company I was just browsing online, with the exact products I was interested in but didn't purchase. The internet is a funny, sadistic thing. In order to sway me to buy their products, to spend my own precious money, companies advertise their products all over Pandora, specific to the person. How in the world, the internet manages to know what we were contemplating buying, and put in directly in a place where it knows we would see it, I will never know. Clothing and accessory companies are quite clever in manipulating the internet like this, because it causes customers to buy more and more, giving the companies exactly what they want, more money.

No Jewelmint, I will not go back on your site just because of Free Shipping & Easy Returns. 

Response to Alissa Steiner's "Depression in College Students"

I believe Alissa Steiner's thesis to be, "Understanding depression, its symptoms and its consequences, can help us identify and help friends and family members who may be suffering. Also, if counseling services on college campuses were better able to publicize and reach out to students, perhaps more students could get help they need before it is too late." To me, she doesn't support this at all. She doesn't give any examples of how understanding depression, and/or, college counseling helps people who are truly depressed. She only tells the short stories of two students who were perfect on the outside, then turned out to be so depressed that they committed suicide. To make a claim, any claim, you need to give two or more examples supporting that claim. She doesn't do that at all, she only restates the same thing over and over again. I don't like how she basically used the essay as an advertisement for counseling on college campuses. She didn't analyze in depth why exactly college students are depressed, she only said that if they perhaps had gone to a counselor on their campus, they wouldn't have committed suicide. This essay really frustrates me because she never went into depth about the real issue; how colleges are depressing to students. If she had actually, fully analyzed that, with actual true facts, this would have been a much better essay. 

Response to Gerald Graff's "Hidden Intellectualism"

When first reading Gerald Graff's essay, "Hidden Intellectualism", I thought his thesis was this, "What doesn't occur to us, though, is that schools and colleges might be at fault for missing the opportunity to tap into such street smarts and channel them into good academic work." I assumed that this was his rightfully placed thesis because it explains the main topic of the essay - but I assumed it's purpose because of it's placement. I'm so used to reading essay in high school where the thesis is located right in the first paragraph. So naturally, that is where I search for it. However, with further reading, I realized that the following is thesis, not only because it discusses the main topic, but because it clearly shows what they author is trying to argue. "But they would be more prone to take on intellectual identities if we encouraged them to do so at first on subjects that interest them rather than ones that interest us" 

To back his thesis, Graff gives two major ways in which intellectualism is more important than academic intelligence. His first is shown in his account of the Chicago neighborhood in which he grew up. "I grew up torn, then, between the need to prove I was smart and the fear of a beating if I proved it too well; between the need not to jeopardize my respectable future and the need to impress the hoods." Aside from wanting to prove himself book-smart, Graff grew up with the threat of getting beaten up by the neighborhood kids. So, he had to develop a sense of protection physically and mentally. He began to play sports, and learned how to get around the "hoods". His other major back-up is how talking and writing about sports eventually helps one to be able to form and write perfect English. "It was in reading and arguing about sports and toughness that I experienced what it felt like to propose a generalization, restate and respond to a counterargument, and perform other intellectualizing operations, including composing the kind of sentences I am writing now. 

I agree with Graff in the sense that schools need to implement current issues and topics of interest to peak the interest of their students - thus encouraging them even further to create the best work that they can create. However, with all of the talk of sports and entertainment, I don't agree that such topics within those generalizations should be taught in schools. If schools were to implement these such topics into their curriculums, then they should pick apart details from them that they know would benefit their students. 

The Effects of Electronic Media According to Pinker and Orenstein

As an avid user of electronic media myself, I totally agree with Steven Pinker in his essay, “Mind Over Mass Media.” This Harvard professor of psychology goes against the general consensus that computer based media makes one stupider by saying that in fact it makes you smarter. With access to such a wide array of learning and teaching resources, you learn and retain much more than thought of from this kind of electronic media. To back up his thesis, Pinker uses the input of actual expert scientists who study the effects of media on the brain, and actual psychologists. He shows that they have tangible proof of how experience of this media can help the brain more than harm it. This kind of expert opinion and the sole fact the Pinker himself is a psychologist builds up his credibility, causing the reader to believe his opinions to be true. 

In her essay, “I Tweet, Therefore I Am,” Peggy Orenstein examines the effects of Twitter and other social media outlets. She open sup the topic by recounting an epiphany she had while listening to a book reading with her daughter. She explains her urge to tweet about that moment, and then she stopped and analyzed why she had such the urge, and what exactly twitter does to it’s users. Her essay mostly utilizes pathos, in the sense that it taps into one’s emotions and makes them question who exactly they are according to what they post on twitter and social media. She emphasizes that once you have established a strong presence on twitter, you lose yourself, you lose the sense of who you really are. You are only how others perceive you and nothing more. I personally don’t agree with her claims because I felt that she over-exaggerated everything and used only how she was feeling to describe the feelings of those who she doesn’t even know. 

Dialogue between Balko and Zincenko

*Two health activists, Radley Balko and David Zincenko, happen to bump into each other in the crowd of Michael Bloomberg's speech about the Soda tax. The following is the conversation they have on the topic of what Bloomberg is trying to do.*

Radley Balko: *chanting along with crowd* We want our soda! We want our soda! We want our soda!

David Zincenko: *starts chanting on his own* Put the tax! Put the tax! Put the tax!

Radley Balko: (To David) Excuse me, what are you doing?

David Zincenko: Chanting, the same as you are. *continues lone chant*

Radley Balko: Well you're the only one chanting "Put the ban" when the rest of us are chanting against it.

David Zincenko: Yes I am, what of it?

Radley Balko: Well, could you please stop doing that? You're disturbing what the majority of us are trying to do.

David Zincenko: And what exactly are you trying to do.

Radley Balko: Trying to put an end to this ridiculous tax before it even starts.

David Zincenko: Why in the world would you do that? This is going to help the obesity issue in New York!

Radley Balko: Putting a tax on soda isn’t going to solve such a large issue! Any government should never intervene in the food desires of Americans.

David Zincenko: Well if the government doesn’t make such a big fuss or try to intervene, then the obesity problems will only get worse! Such a push for the tax is making Americans see how bad the issue really is. It’s making them realize what they’re doing to themselves and to their families.

Radley Balko: What Americans do with their own bodies is their choice. Any opinion concerning their health should not in any way be pushed upon them like this. Aren’t we a free country? Isn’t that the brand we have made for ourselves? Well, if we’re so free, then why should we have politicians forcing such health regulations on us?

David Zincenko: America is known to be the most obese country in the world. And the government is partially at fault for it because they don’t push enough regulations as this. Americans need to be restrained in order to live a healthier life style, it would lower the number of people with health related illnesses all over the country, it would give the country means to cultivate natural foods more, everyone would just be happier. Everyone should be pushing this tax. It seems small now being in only one city, but New York City is one of if not the most famous cities in the country. This will get the health regulation ball rolling and in the future the country itself will be so much better because of it.

Radley Balko: Right now you’re defending the minimal opinion, as you can see here, most New Yorkers are against it. And they are against it because they share in my view that they should be able to live their own lives and do as they please. The only thing the government should do to regulate the health issues is promote healthy eating and living. Simply promote the advantages of it, and not force it like this.

David Zincenko: You know what, you have your opinion, and I have mine. It’s not like our arguing is going to save American, so let’s just be done with this and do what we came here for.

Radley Balko: For once, I agree.

*Both continue on yelling out their opposing chants.* 

Thesis: Even with the ever-present obesity problem in America, Michael Bloomberg's Soda Tax will do nothing but encourage consumers to rebel and ignore the government's tries o enforce health regulations. 

Response to "Shooting an Elephant"

         George Orwell's "Shooting an Elephant" is an anecdote detailing an impressionable event from his time as an imperial police officer in British India. As most high schoolers who have read Orwell's works before, we all know his obsession to exploit the pure unfairness and cruelty of imperial and communist governments. Having grown up within the workings of Imperial Britain, he knew what it was all really like. I always questioned why he had such an obvious hate and animosity toward such governments, and this short story clearly spells the reasons out. Now my foggy view of Eric Blair's own political views has cleared substantially. 

          I've always enjoyed Orwell's style of writing. The way that he paints a crystal clear, dreary picture of a tyrannical world in an enjoyable, fictional language. His usage of description in this story is different from that of his other works however. With each deep, vivid description, there is an explanation of how that particular scene affected him either in that moment, in the future, or both. I didn't come across any obvious figurative language, when he usually uses metaphors and similes in his writing. 

          1) Orwell gives two adjoining reasons for shooting the elephant. The first he mentions in the middle of page 288, "The people expected it of me and I had got to do it; I could feel their two thousand wills pressing me forward, irresistibly. And it was at this moment, as I stood there with the rifle in my hands, that I first grasped the hollowness, the futility of the white man's dominion in the East." He felt the literal need to commit this naturally immoral act because of his people's role in this region. The Burmans saw the English as an irritating authority, but an authority nonetheless. And in this case, they abused that authority to almost test this single English man. Aside from the fact that Orwell already hated his country and what it stood for, he first realized here how pointless the presence of the British authority was. How unnecessary it was. His second reasoning stems from the first, but gets more personal, "I often wondered whether any of the others grasped that I had done it solely to avoid looking a fool." He didn't want to look like a fool representing his country and authority. But he also didn't want to look like a coward by himself. The eyes of a eager, excited two thousand townspeople has quite the strong effect. Especially on a man in his position. 

           2) The dictionary definition of Imperialism is, "a policy of extending a country's power and influence through diplomacy or military force." In this area of Burma, the British Empire at the time had taken over authority. They had extended their power by literal military force, and held that power by keeping the military present, which is where Orwell came in. He learned to hate what the empire had made it's soldiers become, so basically he disliked everything that it did and stood for. With the authority officers like him had to carry out, they became hollow, soulless machines that conformed to wherever they were assigned. "He becomes a sort of hollow, posing dummy, the conventionalized figure of a sahib. For it is the condition of his rule that he shall spend his life in trying to impress the 'natives', and so in every crisis he has got to do what the 'natives' expect of him. He wears a mask, and his face grows to fit it." 

The Train Platform

Arianna Pincay 

The Train Platform

          “Alright, we have to meet up with Lex in the lobby,” said Deborah in a whispered tone. I looked from behind her out into the hallway to check if the coast was clear. When I saw that no one was around, I urged Deborah out of our hotel room door and we ran to the sixth floor elevator which we took down to the first floor lobby. When the elevator doors opened we once again looked left and right repeatedly to see if any of our other companions or teachers were around. Once we saw our friend Lex from across the lobby, we sprinted to her, and the three of us ran out the back door of the Holiday Inn hotel. Once we hit the cool, crisp air of Heidelberg, Germany, we knew we were free. 

          The afternoon of July 7th, 2012, was the day I took off on an adventure that I would never forget. For ten days I would travel around Austria, Germany, and Switzerland with my high school principal, vice-principal, my two best friends, five other classmates, and my mother, our main chaperone. But before I go into depth about this trip, let me tell you about the road to get there. Around the time I was turning fifteen, my parents gave the choice of having a Quinceanera, or a Sweet 16 the next year. Because I never liked to be the center of attention, especially at a party of such magnitude, I chose neither. Instead, I asked my parents to give me the one thing I had always wanted for when I turned 16, a trip to Europe. So when my school announced that it was planning a trip to three countries in Central Europe, I knew that I had to do everything I could to go. And I did. I somehow managed to convince my parents to let me go, just with the condition that my mother accompany me. And since the cost was around $3,000, I felt the need to help pay my parents back. So me and my two best friends at the time, Deborah, and Lex, got together and decided to form a little fundraising committee which we named the Traveling Trio. For a whole year before the trip we sold baked goods, candy, drinks, bracelets - anything that we knew kids at our school would buy. And at the end of the endless sales, we split our earnings in three, and happily presented the money to our parents who had paid the way for our dream to be come true. 

          On the last day of our dream, we were all stuck packing in our hotel. But because we didn’t want to leave without doing something rebellious and truly adventurous, Deborah, Lex, and I snuck out of our hotel at around 8 pm. Let me tell you now, this hotel had the oddest surroundings anyone could imagine. Across the street was an empty parking lot. To the right, a long road. And to the left, a practically abandoned train station. Once we exited the vicinity of the hotel property, we were at a loss at would we should do next. We were so excited about the fact that us three goody-two-shoes were doing something considered “bad” and “rebellious”, that we didn’t make a plan for after the sneaking out. Then we saw a small ice cream/pizza shop attached to the train station. So the three of us linked arms, and headed there. Once we entered the door, the smell of stank cigarettes hit us like a freight train. What could we say, you could smoke anywhere in Germany. So after recovering our breath, we bought little mini Ben & Jerry’s containers, cause you know, that’s what the rebels do. Because we couldn’t take the smell of the multiple chemicals, we headed to the literally empty train station looking for somewhere to sit down. We walked out onto the eerie platform and sat on a bench. For about fifteen minutes, without any of us really noticing, we all sat in silence, eating our ice cream, staring out onto the train platform.

   

          To a stranger walking by, we would've looked liked three zoned out, crazy American girls. But to the three of us, this fifteen minute period was different. For me, it felt like hours. Hours reflecting on the fact that I didn't have to dream anymore, I could just relive my memories of these ten days. But what I thought of most, was the fact that I could get on any train that passed, and get lost somewhere. Not get lost in a bad sense, but in the sense that I could go on a crazy, spontaneous adventure, anywhere. That I could end up in a city where I knew no one and not know the language but still relish in the culture and the fact that I was there. I could make memories that I could tell my grandchildren and they can tell theirs. And that I had my entire life to do all these things in every country around the world if I could. 

          When I got back to school the fall after the trip, a friend had asked me what was my favorite memory of the ten days. I will never forget her face when I told her that my favorite memory was sitting in an empty train station, eating Strawberry Cheescake Ben & Jerry's, staring onto a train platform. And I will never regret telling anyone the same answer who asks me the same questions. 

Chapter 4 Response

Arianna Pincay

Chapter Four Response

        Having gone to a Journalism school for the past six years, I've done a 

lot of different types of writing. And over the course of those years, I had 

found that narratives were my favorite read and write. This chapter is 

particularly interesting to me because it pinpoints the things that you don't 

think of when writing a narrative. When I write narratives, I just let the 

words come and flow out onto the paper. I hardly even give the finished 

paper a second glance because I feel that it is good enough, and usually it 

comes out to be. But this chapter literally maps out how to write a good, 

compelling narrative, in a way that anyone can write it. My favorite part of 

the chapter is the quote by John Steinbeck on page 67, "Then try to 

remember it so clearly that you can see things: what colors and how warm or 

cold and how you got there. . ." I like this part the most because that's what I

do whenever I write anything; I visualize. Whether it is bringing back a 

memory or imagining myself doing something in the near future. The one thing

that I've always had trouble with in writing is including the right transitions. 

Especially with long papers, there are only so many transitions in the English 

language that one could use. 

        I really enjoyed the narrative by Lynda Barry. From the beginning it was 

captivating and entertaining, which is what a narrative should be. It had the 

right amount of mixed emotions to make the reader connect to the story. It 

had sadness, anger, neglect, drama, but most of all, relief and happiness. 

That's what I feel a narrative should be able to do, to connect with many 

different types of people. To teach lessons, to encourage readers to do 

things, to ward them away from trouble. To me, narratives are the most 

powerful form of creative writing, because they can seem so simple, yet do so 

much.